Hackathons Unboxed

Alvin Chia

Description

How much do you know about hackathons, besides the fact that they are highly intense sessions where teams of "hackers" compete to create a game-changing business solution? Whether a potential organiser, a future participant, or just wondering what else you need to break out of the conventional, this book is for you. Hackathons Unboxed takes you behind the scenes, to unpack the seeming magic that gives birth to groundbreaking ideas in just three short days. There are in fact a series of repeatable steps - a well-researched methodology that anybody can follow. But we don't just hack in a vacuum. More than repeating principles such as human-centered design and experimentation, this book addresses the real-world constraints, the unforeseen that may pop up - and how to tackle them. Above all, it will show you the link back to your business needs. All this is done to get your hackathon feeling more like a thriller with a happy ending, instead of three lost days. So dive right in, and let's start hacking!

Sujets

• Gestion et management

Informations

• Publié par: Marshall Cavendish International
• Date de parution: 27 octobre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789814794213
• Langue: English

Extrait

To Gladys, Mama and Papa, who made me who I am today.
2018 Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited
Published by Marshall Cavendish Business
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International

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National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Name(s): Chia, Alvin.
Title: Hackathons unboxed : a field guide to ideating, leading and winning / Alvin Chia ; with foreword by Neal Cross.
Description: Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Business, [2017]
Identifier(s): OCN 1004506935 | ISBN 978-981-4779-25-8 (paperback) | eISBN: 978 981 4794 21 3
Subject(s): LCSH: Creative ability in business. | Technological innovations. | New products. | Workshops. Classification: DDC 650.1-dc23
Book design by Bernard Go Kwang Meng Cover design by Anthony Lew
Printed in Singapore by Markono Print Media Pte Ltd
CONTENTS
Foreword by Neal Cross
Introduction

1 Plan-A-Hack
2 Insights Preparation
3 Generating High Energy
4 Human-Centred Design I: Pre-Fieldwork
5 Human-Centred Design II: Fieldwork
6 Human-Centred Design III: Ideation
7 Prototyping I: Kickstarting Experimentation
8 Prototyping II: Going Higher-Fidelity
9 Facilitation and Mentorship
10 Pitching and Judging
11 Conclusion

Acknowledgements
About the Author
FOREWORD
THE BIGGEST ENEMY of corporations is the silo mentality that I know best - this egotistical statement that senior executives rely on. In fairness, their deep knowledge of their industry and role has worked well for many years. But the world is changing. There are new ways of execution, new potential partnerships, and more importantly, new competitors who are smarter and faster than the incumbents.
As I have often said, the problem isn t that banking needs to go digital - it s that digital is getting into banking. At DBS Bank, we embarked upon a dramatic path to become worldclass. Rather than focus just on innovation, we felt it was important to provoke a cultural transformation and become a leader in our industry. Using common tools like design thinking and lean start-up structures, we have kindled highly engaging hackathons, where we partner banking executives with start-ups, students and our clients to define the future of Asian finance. Going through this, we realised how powerful a tool the customer journey is for reducing the amount of I know best , to get laser-focused on the exact needs of our clients.
We have evolved our methodology since we started. The DBS hackathon is now a three-day event that brings together the top talents from our bank and some of the brightest minds from the FinTech world. We have even extended the power of hackathons to our undergraduate interns through the UNI.CORN programme, where students can take a bite of the real challenges that banks face today.
Our daring towards exploring the unknown has won us fans both locally and around the world. Amongst the accolades we have received, being voted the world s best digital bank in 2016 by Euromoney is one of the best testimonies of how well the digital mindset has been propagated and entrenched - through the hackathon! - within DBS Bank.
Hackathons Unboxed encapsulates the spirit of all that we have pulled off. Alvin has put together a highly practical field guide to help you replicate the magic behind the DBS hackathons we conduct. Whether you are an aspiring hacker, or a hackathon organiser yourself, I m sure you ll learn something valuable from this book.
Neal Cross
Managing Director and Chief Innovation Officer
DBS Bank
INTRODUCTION
ON MY FIRST day at DBS Bank in Singapore, I found myself reporting for work at Changi Airport, waiting for my new colleagues, whom I had met briefly during the interviews.
The duo who greeted me were David Beath and Darren Yeo, from the DBS Innovation Group. After a warm handshake and a short welcome, I was handed two bags. One contained a laptop, the other contained research materials to get me started . I had no idea what to expect. With that, we boarded our flight and jetted off to Jakarta, where I would have my first taste of a DBS hackathon.
The next three days expos ed me to the hackathon methodology. I had the good fortune of being the table facilitator for an amazingly talented team from DBS Indonesia. The experience, as David aptly put it, was an emotional rollercoaster ride: we started off with a high on the first day, before sinking low towards the end of the second day, but came back strongly, ending on a high after the pitch.
The winning team took home cash prizes and an opportunity to build a first-in-market digital product for the bank. Besides the positive vibes and friendships forged, the hackathon left me with a lasting impression, kickstarted my tenure in the best way possible, and also gave me three key takeaways that would form the foundation of this book:
1. Disruption is happening
With smartphones opening new worlds of possibilities, technology has allowed first and fast movers to seize the initiative. In the finance sphere, incumbents are up against the likes of Alibaba (with its Alipay and Ant Financial) and Tencent (WeBank, Wechat Pay, Tenpay). Outside of the banking world, ride-hailing app such as Uber and Grab are also quickly disrupting the transportation market. But remember, it is practices like Human-Centred Design (HCD), experimentation and rapid prototyping that made these disruptions possible. And these practices are open to all.
2. Business-As-Usual (BAU) churns out the usual
How are businesses responding to these disruptions? Very often, we hear that it is BAU. We do certain things because they ve been done this way for the past decades. However, with rapid changes expected in the years ahead, BAU simply cannot respond to customers needs. From budgeting cycles to the layers of approval required and a long release backlog, it could take years before your new product reaches your customers. BAU further stifles creativity as teams seek to provide incremental growth based on tested and proven strategies - far behind the 10x growth that disruptors are getting.
3. Enter hackathons
As the world seeks new ways to answer these disruptions, we ve chosen hackathons. Hackathons are intense events in which bright minds are brought together in teams to tackle a business challenge over a very short period of time. Picture a room crammed full of people brimming with ideas. They will spend the next three days of their lives there, with nothing but full-hearted dedication to cracking a problem. Ambitious challenge statements provoke tension and keep energy high. The idea is that the enormous competition and pressure will exponentially incubate more new concepts than normal circumstances.
But do hackathons work?
Most certainly. Just ask Facebook. Some of its most familiar features were born of hackathons - the Like button, Facebook chat, and even Facebook videos. It is no wonder that the company swears by them.
Hackathons have spawned successful startups too. At a New York City hackathon in 2010, two participants successfully prototyped a group messaging app. They went on to found a company known as GroupMe, which was later acquired by Skype for US 85 million. Back in Singapore, we have Carousell, an app which allows users to trade new and used items. It was conceived at a 2012 hackathon, and has now become one of the largest mobile marketplaces in the region.

A hackathon in full swing
If you are surprised that such game-changers could be conceived within a short span of days, you are not alone. It is no wonder that many newcomers have found themselves addicted to hackathons.
Start the corporate revolution
Catching on, established companies have turned to hackathons to bring out the inner startup in their staff. With decades of history, these companies tend to accumulate volumes of standard-operating procedures (SOPs) in addition to the BAUs which serve them well. But the rigid structure can also hinder the initiative and agility of the company. Hackathons offer a safe space to rewrite the rules, as companies don t need to abandon their businesses just to innovate.
Hackathons are not limited to Silicon Valley companies seeking to iterate new software. IDEO, a leader in design thinking, first tested the make-a-thon format in 2012. They brought together London s industrial designers, architects, and 3D printing experts to prototype physical products, such as a rear bicycle light to detect when traffic behind was moving too close, all in a bid to solve social challenges.
For British Airways, the sky was literally the limit, when they t